Squirrel Hill Magazine

“A World of Signs” is an interactive educational DVD that teaches the essential vocabulary of American Sign Language to babies, toddlers, young children and their caregivers through the multicultural world around us. The unique feature of this DVD is how it interweaves visual art with folk songs, children's songs and classical music. This DVD is in both English and Spanish.

Creator, Shirli Nikolsburg: “I am a mother and developmental psychologist who specializes in early music education. I created this DVD that was filmed with the infant/toddler perspective in mind. My hope and dream is to bring babies and their families together from different cultural backgrounds to a place were they can all share a mutual interest of learning and connecting with each other's way of life.”

Nikolsburg's DVD, together with her volunteer workshops, is being offered to very young children and their mothers in an American school in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Groups of mothers, along with their babies and young children from different ethnic backgrounds, are meeting at the L&L English Learning Center in Mostar to learn from her workshops and screenings of her DVD. Dunja Boric, director of the center, says, “the DVD and workshops are valuable tools to help connect people and assist in bridging their differences in a region where people still struggle to live ordinary lives.”

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